My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/ watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain's recent trip to Iraq . Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI's walking past. They kept count of the GI's and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI's who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama and 2 for Hillary. Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they'd see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn. Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn't a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell' uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain's trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI's being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton . Nomentionof the54for McCain.

There are a number of military personnel locators, the most comprehensive being at military.com (http://community.military.com/buddy-finder/search.do) which includes the DoD locator database. They allow search by service and by pay grade but not retired versus active or reserve.

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Army, O-8, Male."

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Air Force, O-8, Male."

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Marine Corps, O-8, Male."

I did not search for the Navy equivalent, "Rear Admiral - Upper Half."

I do not ever believe that any database is totally complete. It could be that Buckman exists. However, given that the rank of Major general comprises 0.2% of Army personnel, it's less likely that they would lose track of a two-star like they might with a two-stripe.

Personally, I would have liked to locate Buckman and follow-up on this story.

There are clear indications that the Mainstream Media are, indeed, biased. This email, however, is nothing but rumor.

Significantly, emails such as this make it easier for those in the MSM -- and their supporters -- to dismiss bias as "just another rumor," thereby encouraging denial and helping to perpetuate the bias.

If one wants to encourage more honesty on the part of the MSM, one must use factually honest material to do it.

6 comments:

I just received the email and was doing some checking to test it's validity when I ran across your blog. Though I am not convinced that it is true, there is a retired (Air Force) Major General Lewis Buckmam. I found his biography doing a simple google search (hits 1 and 2). Your blog was the #3 hit on Google.see http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=4840

Like most Americans my political beliefs do not follow a party platform.

I believe that a connection to reality is vital and all-too-often missing from the political drones and droids that control the American political landscape.

And like most Americans, I am liberal on some issues and conservative on others.

As a former journalist and university journalism instructor, I am equally offended by the Keith Olbermanns on the left hand and Ann Coulters on the right.

They and their brothers and sisters rant and rouse rabble but rarely rise above the banal. They are demagogues of different stripes: equally annoying, equally flaky and equally useless for making an informed decision.

I am not interested in getting some "journalist's" opinion. I am interested in facts, context and a complete and unbiased picture -- an increasingly scarce commodity.

Like most Americans, I am in nobody's political bag and will never be put into one. That means I cannot be taken for granted.